Living The Life

May 09, 2016

Valor/val-er/noun

heroic courage when facing tough decisions

“Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” - Hellen Keller

For the Parent::Battle Cry

If you’re anything like me, the lazy days that you do nothing are the times that you feel most discouraged. It’s as if there is a small voice somewhere inside crying out because you have forsaken your purpose. That you haven’t lived your life to the utmost of your ability. That you’ve put your life on autopilot and coasted. We are the only ones who can change this. Only we can choose to embrace each day as an opportunity to grow and experience all that life has to offer.

Only we can choose to embrace each day as an opportunity to grow & experience all that life has to offer. Why do people take chances and choose seemingly-dangerous hobbies like skydiving or mountain climbing? Because they’ve realized that life is a richer place when we choose to accept new challenges, and take risks instead of running from them. Now I’m not telling your Warrior Poet to go jump out of a perfectly-good airplane ASAP, only telling him that he should face the challenges and risks in life with Valor. Because in those moments we are truly alive.

For Your Son::Call to Arms

Any time we have a challenge in our lives it involves risk. Any time we have a challenge in our lives it involves risk. I want you to think about the last time you had a really tough challenge. Maybe it was running a race, or going to the playoffs with your team. Maybe it was test at school for a subject that you don’t like very much. How did you respond to the challenge?

How we respond to these trials impacts how we think and feel about ourselves. If we always “play it safe”, it’s much harder to be confident because we know we haven’t truly been tested. However, if we strive to have Valor and courageously meet these challenges head-on, we will only come away stronger - even if we fail. If we strive to have #Valor & courageously meet challenges head-on, we will only come away stronger-even if we fail. As Yoda once said, “Do or do not, there is no try”. He meant that if you decide to do something, you should do it to the utmost of your ability. Either give it 0% or give it 100%. Just remember, if we don’t ever take risks and always choose the easy path, we often miss out on the best things that life has to offer! If we don’t ever take risks & always choose the easy path, we often miss out on the best things that life has to offer!

Weekend Activity

Think through your own catalog of personal experiences and pick out a few examples to share of great things in your life that you may have missed out on had you not taken a risk or made a leap of faith. This will solidify in your Warrior Poet’s mind that sometimes boldly and confidently taking a chance can lead to more opportunities in his life.